Consultants or Do It Alone? - South Africa

[jkpvs14]

Hi there,

I am a newbie on this forum.

My boyfriend and I would like to go to Canada and are South African Residents. We are both in the IT Sector and in our early 20's with about 4 years experience.
We have started investigating all of our options and also had a consultation with a company a few days ago called Network Migration Services - has anyone ever used them? They have offices in Australia, South African and London.
What are they supposed to charge for and not ? They charge R26,500 for our application for however long it takes.

They advised us on searching for a job, which they will assist us with...and the once we are there we can apply for our residency? Is this so?

What is the best course of action and also if we do recommend a consultancy firm or lawyers which is best - here in SA or ones in Canada?

Look forward to hearing from you.

Kind regards,
Jhorene

[hallie]

Hi there,

Well I'm an IT guy in South Africa, and I'm going it alone.  The information from CIC (www.cic.gc.ca) and forums like this one is really good.  I think that consultants are most useful for people who either don't have strong enough English to understand the process clearly, or have some kind of legal or particular health issues that could pose a problem.

R26k+ sounds excessive, since the Canadian fees total about R8k.

Of course, there's something so be said for having someone who really knows the ropes, but the documentation is pretty clear.  So it's up to you :)

Good luck with the process!

Regards,
H

[jkpvs14]

Hi Hallie,

Thank you for your message - we got a lot of response also from SACanada forum -- it seems the best thing is to do it yourself and safe all that hard earned money.

May I ask in which area of IT you are in? Did you apply for your Canadian Immigration so long and also searching for a job and then apply for a work permit?

Kind regards,
Jhorene

[hallie]

Hi Jhorene,

I'm a contractor working at one of the big phone companies.  I have looked at the idea of getting job + work permit but that looks really hard to achieve -- you need to persuade an employer that YOU are worth going through the mounds of paperwork, labour market opinions and delays it would entail.

For now I'm putting in a regular Federal Skilled Worker application (just as soon as I get my new passport from Home Affairs - I want to be able to have a single passport throughout the process so as not to confuse things - but they're taking their time.  Hopefully next week!)

Have you got any further yet?  If the work permit process works out for you, I'd love to hear how you go about it -- employment agencies etc.

Good luck!
H

[jkpvs14]

Hi Hallie,

Sorry for not replying on your previous message.

We have been struggling a lot to get the correct people or websites to search for jobs in Canada. We found a couple last night that we will check out in the next couple of days hopefully with some luck.
We also went and got some info on how to write our CV's for Canada - but with IT, you have to list some of your projects. Have you started putting all of this together yet and maybe have some advice on it?

I would like to ask you about the PR application - are you also applying through the Simplified Process - Skilled Worker?
We are busy with our forms to get it finalized but am confused as to the one form we got on the www.cic.gc.ca website and the one guide we downloaded for PTA specific saying we need to include a Schedule 1: background declaration and a Schedule 3. What were you advised to do?
I have been on the phone to the CHC in PTA - but it's all automated systems and you just get some of your answers.
Do you know anything about a covering letter that needs to accompany your form?

Speak soon.

Kind regards,
Jhorene

[RogerL]

Hi,
We are also going it alone.  That is, my wife and I.

We are also doing the skilled migrant worker class, without a job offer as it is very easy.  The initial forma are 3 pages plus ID and work experience.  We did it in a weekend, had the check drawn up and handed in early in May.

I looked at the provincial nominee and have a job but the process to get the job offer looks like a problem.  I am still not sure where we are going anyway.

R